Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to Collide; The GOP Heats Up; Roger Ailes Accused of Sexual Harassment; Reviewing the Speeches at the First Day at the RNC; Plagiarism Controversy Around Melania Trump's Speech. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 19, 2016 - 02:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:01] AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But you can't hide. You can't deny. Everybody can look at the words. They are just making themselves look silly.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean Michelle Obama is an inspiration to millions of women throughout the world and Melania Trump is just somebody else who is inspired by Michelle Obama. I mean I have--

MARK PRESTON,CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: I just love how you take everything--

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: I mean that is what I got from Jason's release right there.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And what I think--

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: You can't--You can't read that into it.

SELLERS: No, he said she drew inspiration. I mean, that speech that Michelle Obama gave was magnificent. I do think there is a standard here that we're not talking about. I think that--I think that Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton as a first lady, even the Bushes(ph) as a first lady are being held to a different standard and we need to acknowledge that, whether or not it's fair or not fair. But they are held to a different standard than Melania was.

MCENANY: What if--what's that--

PRESTON: But let's just acknowledge this again. She is not a politician.

MCENANY: Right.

PRESTON: She will not be held--

MCENANY: In--

PRESTON: No, no, she will not be held to the same standard as a politician, but make this point you got to make the acknowledgement and then move on.

LEMON: I got five seconds.

MCENANY: I can tell you guys this. She is crushed right now. This was her big night, she trusted her team of people, and she is crushed right now.

LEMON: We'll continue when we come right back. More highlights from day one of the GOP convention live here at CNN tonight this morning.

OK, a lot to talk about tonight; about parts of -- at least one part of Melania's speech in comparison to the 2008 speech of Michelle Obama. Let's listen to side by side comparison of the two speeches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values. Like, you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, that you do what you say you're going to do.

MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: My parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you do what you say and keep your promise.

OBAMA: That you treat people with dignity and respect even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them.

TRUMP: That you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily life. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need those lessons on to the many generations to follow.

OBAMA: And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values and to pass them on to the next generation because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.

TRUMP: Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievement is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

PRESTON: OK, let me just say a couple of things. OK, and to repeat a little bit of myself. First of all, not a politician, will be held to a different standard. Second of all, an absolutely unforced error because what she said wasn't -- it was--it was really stolen, intellectually stolen. It was like factually stolen. You know what I mean?

I know, I know and I am--(INAUDIBLE) but the bottom line is not a fatal error, but really just going to ruin what was a good first convention that night for the Trump campaign.

CARPENTER: Yes and here is the reason she has to admit it, apologize, and move on, that particular section of the speech was about keeping your word, honesty, values. If you're going to lie about plagiarizing that part that becomes really problematic really quickly.

LEMON: And that's plagiarizing the values of someone you don't--

CARPENTER: Yes, who proposed the speech.

LEMON: And her husband doesn't really like him and says a lot of bad things about him. Andy Dean, go ahead. As you were watching that what was your honest reaction?

DEAN: My reaction was I didn't like the side by side, but it just made it a little harder to watch.

LEMON: How so?

DEAN: I don't know. Look, I really think Melania is a very special, intelligent, wonderful person. I mean she came to this country and she built an incredible life and she also is a wonderful businesswoman.

LEMON: That is a given. That is a given.

DEAN: Right. I'm distracting, Dom.

LEMON: OK yes, but honestly. What is your reaction?

DEAN: It's not--it doesn't look right, but I truly feel that this is a one or two-day max story. And there are two ways to deal with it. It's to go Amanda's route or maybe my advice would be just ignore it completely and blame the media.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: Can I say, I mean I have to echo what Kayleigh said a moment ago and I really do feel bad for Melania. Like, I truly do because she was thrust in front of the world tonight --

Kayleigh: Yes.

SELLERS: --And her first audition, true audition, as First Lady of the United States, but I have to harken back to the fact that when you're in this level of politics in this level you are responsible for the words that come out of your mouth. And I think that the story tonight, although I do feel extremely bad for Melania, because Melania -- there was no real sharp criticism you could have about the speech before learning that it was actually written by Hillary Clinton's speech writer.

I just felt if you can't say something really, really awesome about the person that you've been married to or with for 18 years without plagiarizing is your number one character witness, that is an essential problem and I thought that takes what she was able to do for Donald Trump.

MCENANY: But she has done that and countless interviews even--

LEMON: Kayleigh, can I get the response in and then you respond after that?

MCENANY: Sure.

LEMON: I think it's important to get this in. The Trump campaign responded to tonight with this statement and here it is. "In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking. Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, and made it such a success."

Go ahead Kayleigh.

MCENANY: I was going to say she has told this personal story in interviews with Anderson Cooper and interviews with other people. She's told stories about her husband and what we saw on that statement there is that she trusted a team of people, she gave her thoughts, her ideas to this team and trusted that they would take them and formalize them in a way that was palpable to the American public in her coming out party.

What ended up happening was this speech writer made a mistake. It doesn't take away from her story, it doesn't take away from how incredible this woman is, it doesn't take away from this evening.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK, ok. Two things here. She did say that she wrote most of it herself and they helped her to, you know, put the finishing touches on it. And number two, her interview with Anderson Cooper was not on stage tonight. It was her reintroducing herself and her husband to the American people, to a very broad audience. So, don't you think she should have gotten those moments into the speech tonight, because people aren't going to be researching Anderson and other people's interviews for what she--for anecdotes about Donald Trump.

MCENANY: Well, I mean we can get into the nitty-gritty. Should she have had more personal stories about her and her husband? I really think that this was about her tonight, auditioning as you say for the First Lady role, telling her story, how she got here.

LEMON: Did tell her story.

MCENANY: I think a big part of it this was a national security-themed night, that she came to this country legally, came the right way, her husband wants immigrants to be here and that was kind of the overarching theme.

LEMON: OK here's the thing she said about this speech on an NBC interview today. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MALE: Has she got over the speech with you? Did you practice it on the plane?

TRUMP: I read that once over it and that's all because I wrote it with a little help as possible so--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: "I wrote it with little help."

PRESTON: So this is a moment where perhaps she's fibbing a little bit, but you would never get caught in a fib like this because probably her heart of hearts she felt like she did write the speech because she spoke to the speech writers as they were writing it and then weaved everything together. Again, I have to ask this question. I don't have an answer either, I'm just wondering what everybody else thinks about this.

If this was somebody else's spouse, if I wasn't Donald Trump's spouse, would we still have the same reaction? Because as Amanda has pointed out several times tonight is that the campaign has a habit of not admitting fault, not acknowledging problems, not ever saying 'I'm Sorry'.

LEMON: I think--

PRESTON: I wonder--

LEMON: My thing is, I think Bakari said this earlier. If this was Michelle Obama in 2008, Nancy Reagan, or Laura Bush or somebody--

SELLERS: I mean, let's not--I mean they would literally say she was the anti-Christ. I mean, it would be completely over. They would encourage Barack Obama to drop out of the race for his wife plagiarizing--

PRESTON: That's why I think it's important to think about other scenarios.

SELLERS: Is--Is that right? CARPENTER: Well, spouses who aren't political figures, I think, do get more leeway which is again why I think she should just admit it and move on because people would forgive her. She's not in the limelight a lot this -- everyone knows this is her first big speech. I think they are making it worse by saying a team of writers helped--were complicit in this.

If it were just her people would forgive her, but now it's becoming kind of a campaign issue and so blaming it on more people is not better. You need to find one person, maybe Melania says "I made a mistake. It was my first big speech. I left it open in the draft."Or blame it on one speech writer and fire them. But, saying a team of writers makes it even worse.

SELLERS: Yes, just fire the 26-yr old. I mean that that is what you do.

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: Yes, I mean you just say, "Brother, you're taking one for the team. You know, go out there --"

PRESTON: Get in front of the bus.

SELLERS: Yes. "--You--You got to take one for the team. This was your fault and we move on."

LEMON: Right. We're going to be right back with much more live from the CNN Grove here in Cleveland.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're back now live in Cleveland at the Scenic(ph) Grove(ph). Lots of dramatic moments on the opening day or opening night of the Republican National Convention. Joining me now, CNN's senior political reporter Manu Raju who is our eyes and our ears for all Manu you witness it all. What do you have for us?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well aside from the controversy involving Melania Trump's speech which has dominated the post-convention coverage controversy. Of course you were talking about it Don, the similarities between Melania Trump's speech and Michelle Obama's speech in 2008 which the Trump Campaign has sort of downplayed. Said there is not much of a controversy here. Really this whole night was all about trying to do three things.

One, disqualify Hillary Clinton in the eyes of the American public by saying that she has been -- she erred in how she handled Ben Gauzy does not -- is not going to keep American safe. Two, make Donald Trump look like a strong individual. Someone who could push back and stop America's enemies, both overseas and domestically. And three, to showcase and more human side of Donald Trump and that is what Melania Trump did earlier tonight. So--this is a little bit from her speech from earlier when she talked about Donald Trump as a huband and what Donald Trump would do if he were the next Commander-in-Chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: His children have been cared for and mentored to the extent that even his advisories admit they are an amazing testament to who he is as a man and a father.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

There is a great deal of love in the Trump family, that is our bond, and that is our strength. Donald intends to represent all the people. Not just some of the people. That includes Christians, and Jews, and Muslims. It includes Hispanics, and African-Americans, and Asians, and the poor, and the middle-class.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now tomorrow expect more from the Trump family. Donald Trump Junior, Tiffany Trump, the Trump children are going to speak on behalf of their father, but also some political figures too, including congressional leaders, White House Speaker, Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, and House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, to offer probably an argument against Hillary Clinton and for keeping congressional majority. Don, the Trump campaign believes that controversy that you've been talking about -- we've been talking about between Michelle Obama and Melania Trump's speech is not really much of a story to believe.

Tomorrow for the focus is going to shift back on to the programming which is also about the economy and how they say they are going to make American work again. That's the slogan for tomorrow's program here, Don.

LEMON: Manu Raju live on the convention floor. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. You know day one of the Republican Convention featuring several celebrity speeches of course and you know what, joining me now is a celebrity himself, Stephen Baldwin, endorser of Donald Trump.

I think you talked about that on CNN tonight with Don Lemon you became the first celebrity endorser.

BALDWIN: No I'm just here again Don. I've been rushed in and to be the plagiarism expert.

LEMON: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: So I got that going for me. Now I -- as you know the first time you interviewed me you said I am a glutton for punishment.

LEMON: Yes, because he fights or flights. BALDWIN: Fireplace back in (INAUDIBLE) -- somebody involved in that speech not too long. And, I just I'm here --I think it's kind of funny the conversation. What celebrities will come?

LEMON: All right, but what do you think of the plagiarism thing?

BALDWIN: I think it is silly. I think it's absolutely silly. Are we seriously going to, like, try to, like, set up Mrs. Trump about incapable she is at writing speeches or not writing speeches?

LEMON: Of course you are.

BALDWIN: No, no, no that's not the point. The point is obviously she had help. If there is similarities and you want to call it plagiarism that is your choice. If you ask me this is not really the focus. It's good news. It's worth talking about, but it's not what we should be focusing on.

LEMON: OK maybe we should be focusing on this. This entrance tonight. Or Last night. Play it.

BALDWIN: I'm ready.

LEMON: Did you see this?

BALDWIN: No.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

LEMON: What do you think of that? You can't write this stuff. Well yes you can because they did.

BALDWIN: Listen, when I think of Mr. Trump I think of guns, smoke and the Old West, you know. Larger than life and it's why he's the nominee, Don. Come on baby.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I mean that was, come on, that was pretty spectacular. I sat there and watched this. I guess that was freaking cool.

BALDWIN: So you're voting for him now.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: No, no, I did not say that.

BALDWIN: OK.

LEMON: Maybe I don't vote, But we'll talk about that later. You say that it's a perfect storm for Trump to become president right now?

BALDWIN: Well everybody said he was never considered the nomination and he did. And, again I'm -- the polls are the polls. Everybody's -- what's interesting about this election is it's so divided and everybody on Ms. Clinton's side, you know, they want what they want and everybody on Mr. Trump's side they want what they want.

And, my only logic here is if you look at what's gone on with these two candidates; who they are, what they have done, what they represent, what the facts are, and you still want to vote for Hillary. God bless you, that's all I got to say about that.

(LAUGHTER)

Cause it's just so obvious. In my opinion--

LEMON: You are absolutely right because you see it. I see it all the time, 'Oh my gosh you hate (AUDIO GAP)"and people (AUDIO GAP) not matter what side you're on.

BALDWIN: That's right. That's kind of freaky. Now behind that is what I said to you from day one. I think that there is a significant number of people that are going, "Oh that Mr. Trump, he's crazy. And they are going to be voting for him."

LEMON: And they are going to be voting for him.

BALDWIN: It's because, it's so polarized and everybody's so scared to really be able to say what they want to say and again Mr. Trump has really struck a cord, "make America Great Again,"Jobs, now he's got governor pens. I think --

LEMON: Do you think tonight was about last night or was it about security and safety? Do you think they could have -- because I don't know how many people vote on security and safety. I think people vote on jobs, jobs, jobs and the economy.

BALDWIN: No, security is pretty big. Security is pretty big.

LEMON: But when you go to the polls, "I don't have a job, but I'm going to vote on security. "You vote on the person who is going to get you a job no?

BALDWIN: Well if you don't have job then probably.

LEMON: You think it was a missed opportunity that like tonight they should have come out and said, "We're going to get you a job. We're going to improve the economy. That is -- We're going to make America great again by making you great again."

BALDWIN: Yes, well I don't think they missed an opportunity. They still have time to communicate their message. I think Mrs. Clinton's been involved in administration for eight years and hasn't really done that. You know, again you can go to polls, and job creations, it's that, but the mood, the tone, and the country is still very nervous very anxiety ridden, very concerned, lot of fear this set. And I think Mr. Trump is somebody that is really ringing true to those people. Somebody that can -- again he's not a politician. I was with him on Celebrity Apprentice. I got to see him behind the scenes, having fun, playing with his kids, you know, he's more a regular joe than people realize for a guy who has had the success he's had.

LEMON: So you're going to vote for Hillary Clinton is your saying?

BALDWIN: No.

LEMON: Stephen, thank you. Thank you for staying up so late.

BALDWIN: My pleasure.

LEMON: I appreciate it.

BALDWIN: You're the best.

LEMON: And you're absolutely right.

(LAUGHTER)

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back now live at CNN Grove here in Cleveland and I want to talk about Pastor Mark Burns. Gave a benediction tonight at the convention that caused some controversy. He joins me now. Let's play it before we -- how are you doing by the way?

MARK BURNS, PASTOR: I'm good. Good to see you.

LEMON: Good, let's play it and then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: I'm going to pray and I'm going to give the benediction. You know why? Because we are electing a man in Donald Trump who believes in the name of Jesus Christ. And republics we have got to be united because our enemy is not of the republics, but is Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, so the controversy is that we have differences of opinions. We know we're all Americans and you're a pastor and they are saying that they are wondering -- people are wondering if it's appropriate for you to call Hillary Clinton the enemy because the enemy is supposed to be ISIS, is supposed to be terrorists, racism, intolerance, that sort of thing.

BURNS: Absolutely. What you know, again people who know me I am a very emotional person. I'm very passionate about what I believe in and I think, you know, it was misinterpreted to what I was really trying to say because what just took place on the floor was this attempt. This horrible coup attempt that I call it to try to dethrone and to try to call it, rollcall(ph). There was a lot of chaos that was taking place and so when I came to speak people who know me, my theme is Vocation, unifying us as Americans.

So when I got to the podium, I was wanting to remind the party that our political enemy or --I was using it as a metaphor as the people who we really need to be prepared to defeat is not each other on this convention floor, but we need to unify as a party and be prepared to defeat Hillary Clinton.

LEMON: Do you regret those words?

BURNS: Well I think if I could go back and quickly say 'political opponent' so I would rephrase it because it was not my intent to -- listen I'm a preacher, I believe in the name of Jesus Christ and any opportunity I get to declare that to the world I am going to do it. Our real enemy as we know in the bible of Christ is Satan and ISIS, people who are trying to destroy our way of life and this is what Donald Trump stands for.

LEMON: Do you think the party can be unified now?

BURNS: Well I do. I really do. To be honest with you, the responses that I have gotten positively talk so heavily about how after that prayer people are really beginning to come together and really begin to unify behind Donald Trump so absolutely yes, I think we can move forward.

SELLERS: I know Pastor Burns and I appreciate what he just said. I think that's the same tact that a man that was talking about earlier that the Trump campaign should take with Melania Trump's speech today. I mean there is no mal intent in Melania Trump's heart and no mal intent in your heart, but yet when accountability has to occur accountability has to occur.

LEMON: He said I regret --

SELLERS: And even I get that. Even if he didn't go that far, I mean he got caught up in the moment of the convention. Like I can get that, I think most Americans can get that so if there was controversy brother I didn't see it.

BURNS: Well thank you so much.

SELLERS: And I think I -- I don't agree with your politics at all, but I hope that we both get where we're trying to go.

BURNS: That's the beautiful thing about America because we don't have to agree and I'm glad you saying this because even right now out here, especially within our black community, because some of the letters that I've been getting just for standing behind Donald Trump and being a black man, people I am a real black man. There is no -- I am very proud to be..

LEMON: You don't have to make it-- BURNS: But the point that I am making is we can still have a difference of opinion, respect each other. I don't have to call you uncothal(ph).

SELLERS: I don't have to call you cool(ph).

BURNS: And we can respect --

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: You giving a speech on Thursday night and I said, "Don't go up there and make us all look bad."

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: You bring about a very good point which is you should not have to apologize for it. There is no playbook or rule book of what it's like to be African-American. African-Americans are diverse. You have conservative (INAUDIBLE). We're no monolithic. We can support Donald Trump. We can support Hillary Clinton. We can be democrats, we can be conservatives, we can be independent, and you can still be an authentic black person. I reject that and I agree with you on that, but speaking of when you said that we can -- I think where you were going is we can disagree, but we don't have to be disagreeable is what they said in the church.

[02:30:00] And you've heard of the discussion, a very contentious discussion last night with Sharon Clarke which is, we were fine when we left the studio but everybody, you know, oh my gosh, I can't believe you did that and you reject this and you did that and. Why can't we just disagree on things and agree to disagree?

MARK BURNS, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT OF THE NOW NETWORK: Well, you know, again, it's a little bit narrative that has been played out in America. I think, to be honest with you, sex sells, division sells, fight sells, for us to be pitted against each other. I stated over and over and over again, we really got to get to a place here at America that we, to be honest with you, it vexes me when people say that's the black Pastor, Mark Burns, who supports Trump. That is the black pastor who -- that is the African. I'm proud to be a descendant of Africans but the point that I'm making is it is till we get rid of that type of a rhetoric that is only -- it's going to keep us divided.

LEMON: Speaking of unifying.

BURNS: Absolutely.

LEMON: We can't be unified until we do that. You see, you also know that there is an issue in -- there's an issue with crime in the black community. There's also an issue with police brutality that's why when it comes to police, you can see, you can have an issue with both of those -- both of those can be tackled. They're not mutually exclusive.

BURNS: Absolutely, listen. I've said this over and over again, Donald Trump has declared that he's going to be the law and order candidate but at the same time, to be sensitive to the communities that feel like law enforcement treat them in a different manner.

LEMON: Are you talking about this on Thursday?

BURNS: Absolutely, because this is all a part of the pie. It's all part of this. I'm going to speaking on Thursday, to my understanding at 8:10, 8:15 p.m. back on the main stage. But at that time, I'm going to really be able to talk about the unification because the theme is, Make America One Again. And that's what we're going to do on Thursday.

LEMON: All right. We're back now live from Cleveland where the theme of the opening night of the GOP Convention was, "Make America Safe Again". "Make America Safe Again". Back with me now, my political dream team is here. So, let's take a look at some of the sound bites, OK? OK so, here's the order, before, who do you think was number one when it came to speeches?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Who gave the best speech?

LEMON: Yeah.

PRESTON: I mean, Rudy Giuliani gave the best speech.

LEMON: This is from Google, this is Google tracker, right? Google searches.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes. I thought it was so moving ...

LEMON: Number one was Melania Trump. Number two, who do you think?

PRESTON: Whatever we say, you're going to tell ...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: You know the answer to these if you were tracking them. Number three?

MCENANY: Marcus Luttrell. I agree with Amanda.

LEMON: No, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Number four?

MCENANY: People stayed up later tonight probably.

PRESTON: Shawn Smith's mom?

LEMON: No, that was Chachi, Scott Baio. And number five?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LEMON: Number five.

CARPENTER: Dabato?

LEMON: Dave Clark.

PRESTON: Dave Clark.

LEMON: So speaking of, let's listen to Dave Clark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE CLARK, MILWAUKEE COUNTY SHERIFF: Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make something very clear, Blue lives matter in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So that line got a big response that was on the floor, kind of down on the bottom, big response, big applause, not a lot after that. I know people may differ with me but I was there, not a lot after that, it may have been seen differently on television. What did you think? Again, I don't think anybody compares to Rudy Giuliani's night.

CARPENTER: That was a great moment but I feel like the entire night was a roller coaster. I mean, maybe I'm sort of fixated on the Marcus Luttrell speech because it was so emotional. I mean, you had women in the room bawling on camera. And so then, you had to have this buildup where you had very emotional speeches by Luttrell, by Shawn Smith's mother where people were crying and then you went up to the Giuliani speech where people were really just roused and ready to cheer and (inaudible) poster of the night.

LEMON: Do you think though that -- some people think the bar was set low for speakers, that it was sort of an easy achievement or no?

SELLERS: I think the bar was definitely set low. I mean, I think that Donald trump set the bar, you know, when he won the nomination, saying that, you know, you're going to have Tom Brady, you're going to have all of these great actors and actresses and athletes and Mike Tyson come through and Tim Tebow come through and it was just going to be this extraordinary expose of the finest athletes and actors in the world. And it wasn't that. But with that being said, I think that the most talented person in the

world, it kind of shows that -- not in the world but of tonight, it shows the disorganization of the campaign was Joni Ernst.

(Crosstalk)

SELLERS: Because you have the rising -- you had a female rising star who is the first female Republican elected from the State of Iowa. She's military, yeah, I mean, she's everything. And she was at 11 o'clock and it she was empty.

(Crosstalk)

MCENANY: She was great, I mean, maybe she should've been up higher. She was very, very good but I (inaudible) as good as expected (inaudible) the night was better than seeing celebrities. Because we didn't see celebrities, we saw real heroes.

We saw Marcus Luttrell who, his three comrades in battle were killed in front of his very eyes, we saw two men in Benghazi who fought for their lives for 13 hours. We saw Sheriff Clarke who took to our street and defended our people every single day. These were real people, these were heroes. It's like nothing we've ever seen at a convention, he wasn't afraid of politicians, he's a real hero ...

PRESTON: But he's going to be afraid of politicians over the next few days, I mean, let me --

LEMON: But she's right. These are American heroes.

PRESTON: Absolutely. Yes, but every -- this is what I'll say, it is very difficult to put together four nights of speeches, four and five hours. And to your point, the rollercoaster part you want to hit your notes high. You want to hit them low. I mean, there's certainly a theme in how to do it. It's very difficult .

LEMON: But do we have Scott Baio? I don't know if we have Scott Baio talking about how he actually got to speak, let me know if we ...

SELLERS: But I wanted to -- but I mean ...

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: Next week, when we're sitting at the CNN Grill in Philadelphia, we have to use the same standards when you have the mothers of the movement go up there which are real heroes because they've lost their sons to unjustifiable violence at the hands of the State.

So I mean, you have to be able use that same standard. And if we do that, it's fine. I mean, I don't mind doing that and I expect, I mean, we'll have that conversation next week when we're in Philadelphia.

MCENANY: We will. CARPENTER: Briefly, one thing about the celebrities, I didn't

really expect to like the celebrity speeches. I thought, you know, Charles in charge, is going to weird. I thought "Duck Dynasty" guy was going to be kind of weird but it was a little refreshing to hear the people speak very plainly. You know, even throw out the teleprompter at times. That sort of worked for me and I think that is a nice perspective that the Donald Trump campaign brought that another Republican probably wouldn't. I don't know if you can continue that and be able to weave in serious themes through it but it kind of worked.

LEMON: Yeah, what's interesting to me, speaking to someone who was just an observer who's, I don't know if he's a delegate or not but just a sort of, observer. And they said that about Melania Trump, they said, I thought I liked Melania Trump's speech. They taught her how to read the Teleprompter but they didn't tell her how to speak. And meaning, just sort of go off the cuff a little. Do you think that is a valid criticism?

PRESTON: Yeah, like, you know, several of us work off the Teleprompters occasionally. It is not an easy thing to do to look ahead and talk off the Teleprompter and make it appear that you're not speaking off a Teleprompter. So, in many ways, she did as good as she could for somebody who's not a professional. And I think you got to give her that.

SELLERS: Her major problem was not delivery. Her major problem was plagiarism.

LEMON: But before we knew that.

SELLERS: I mean, now that we ...

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: I thought we were recapping. I'm like a dog on a bone with ...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Here's the moment I talked about, Scott Baio. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BAIO, ACTOR-PRODUCER: We have a choice in November. We can go for Hillary Clinton, I agree, who wants to continue the same policies that are wrecking this country. Policies that make us unsafe, a woman who somehow feels that she's entitled to the presidency, that she's somehow owed it.

Or we can go for Donald Trump. A man doing this from the goodness of his heart, and genuinely wants to help, a man who knows how to get things done, a man who says what he means and means what he says. Hillary Clinton wants to be president for Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump wants to be president for all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So, a couple things, I thought he got a great reception. I thought he was with the crowd, the crowd was with him, I should say. The other thing, he appeared to be choked up and, you know, very authentic there. The other thing is that, he said, he got to do the speech because he ran into Donald Trump. I believe it was at Trump Tower and he said, Mr. Trump and he goes, oh Scott Baio. And he goes, oh my gosh, do you want to speak? And he said, now? And he goes, no, next week at the convention, right? And then the other thing is, does Chachi age? Does Charles in charge over age? I mean, that look, it's ...

CARPENTER: The one thing I've learned from this though is that if you need a speaker in a pinch, call an actor because they're not going to screw it up for you.

(CROSSTALK)

SELLERS: Well, I mean, call an actor that's really not busy.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: ... about him, two good things, one is, he is absolutely hitting the demo because the folks who were in that hall grew up with "Happy Days". They did and as well as Charles in Charge. No, question which is your favorite show.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: The other thing is Scott Baio is a man on an island of itself many times. He is probably the most outspoken Republican in Hollywood nowadays. And you don't see very many Republicans out on the west coast.

SELLERS: What about Kirk Cameron? He's pretty outspoken as well.

PRESTON: Well, but not as ...

CARPENTER: That's a different crowd.

(CROSSTALK)

PRESTON: ... social conservative crowd.

SELLERS: Scott Baio, Scoot Baio when it's hard, as yesterday or earlier this week or in the last week saying that Barack Obama was a radical Islamic sympathizer. I mean, so, I mean, he uses the same type of red meat rhetoric that you hear from the base all the time. And who was the other speaker that tonight, the underwear model.